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It’s enough to make you weep. A dark and disturbing video/advertisement of an old man about to spend the holidays alone has gone viral, perhaps because it has a social message that transcends retailers’ usual commercial imperative to sell more stuff.

Nearly 44 million people have watched the video produced by the German supermarket chain, Edeka. And, in almost every comment made by people reposting or sharing the link, weeping figures prominently.

The old man’s children and grandchildren are too busy to visit. They live too far away. They have other places they need to be. Everybody has a reason. Everybody says they miss him. They’re thinking him.

So, the poor old man is left alone to chop his vegetables and cook his own Christmas dinner. He eats alone at the dining room table in front of a decorated tree.

His only saving grace, it seems, is that he has a dog.

The heartbreaking message is as relevant in Canada as it apparently is in Germany. Aging parents, grandparents and elderly friends are often neglected at this time of year.

Having left our villages in the great global migration to cities, our elders are now less likely than ever to be surrounded, respected and cared for by friends and family. Instead, they frequently live among strangers. Others live alone, and still others are isolated because of the often-overwhelming demands of caring for a beloved spouse or partner at home.

Canada is a big country, a country where family members are often scattered from sea to sea and even across one sea or another. Nuclear families are becoming rare, replaced by blended and extended families.

Here, one in five seniors told Statistics Canada in 2008 that they felt left out, isolated and lacking in companionship.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, noted in a 2012 study that socially isolated people — lonely people — are at increased risk of almost every possible health problem from heart disease to arthritis to infections, cognitive deterioration and depression.

“Social relationships are central to human well-being and are critically involved in the maintenance of health,” they noted.

Another study found loneliness is as harmful to one’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Still another suggested that loneliness is twice as likely to cause an early death as obesity.

The video of the lonely, old German man has gone viral because it cuts so close to home for those of us with aging parents, and for those of us who are aging much more rapidly that we could ever have imagined.

Perhaps it is incongruous to mention karma in a column about a holiday ad. But building up good karma is the first thought I had after receiving a news release from the B.C. Care Providers Association and watching the video for a second time.

The care providers also had a simple message: The best gift to give a senior over the holidays is to spend time with them.

It didn’t say this, but maybe it should have: Making a habit of visiting or at least calling throughout the year would be appreciated even more.

There is selfishness in the idea of building up good karma — or social change, if you’d prefer — because if loneliness and social isolation are problems now, there will be an epidemic in 20 years.

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And that is when I will be among the one in four Canadians over the age of 65.

I’ve seen enough to know that the reality of aging isn’t like in ads that show stunningly beautiful, grey-haireds staring off a cruise ship’s prow over the turquoise blue and into the horizon.

I know that for most of us, 80 isn’t going to be like 60, any more than 60 is the new 40. Too many times, I’ve heard friends and family members say that growing old is not for the faint of heart.

But, as the research suggests, we age better if we’re not alone.

If we start now by being kinder, more respectful and caring for the elderly, perhaps we won’t end up old, lonely and forgotten.

And if that doesn’t happen, well, there’s always the little old man’s wicked solution … Revenge in the form of a faked death, followed by relief and a sumptuous familial feast.

If you aren’t among the 44 million who have watched the video, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6-0kYhqoRo

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